Excerpts from a Relationship
by Pagan Ianthe
Summary: Following the secret couple through the years.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Harry Potter characters; they are the creations of JK Rowling and the property of WB, Bloomsbury Books and Scholastic.  
**Author Note:** Please enjoy and I love hearing from the people who enjoy (or don't).  
_  
Two weeks until the Yule Ball_

There was nothing innocent about the way she pushed open the door and walked so casually into the pub, her hips swaying, the curling ends of her dark blonde hair brushing against the curve of her shapely derriere with every step, shaking the snow out of her gloves.__

The building was packed to the rafters; a three-piece band was playing old Weird Sisters' hits in one corner, a small group of loyal fans sitting nearby listening to the music. At a small table virtually hidden from view by a tall dividing wall, Harry, Hermione and Ron sat, hands curved around mugs of warmed butterbeer, as they discussed the latest developments in their fight against 'he who must not be named'. The 'boy who lived' and his two most loyal friends made sure to get together at least once a week outside of school responsibilities and the constant training for the final battle (a battle that Dumbledore was sure would soon be taking place).

Smiling, she walked over to the table where Ginny and Colin were already sitting, a large ham and mustard roll in between them. "You finally made it then?" Ginny gave Luna a brief hug before shifting a little on the seat so that there was enough room for them all to sit down on the bench beneath the window. __

"I got a little bit distracted," she said in a slightly bewildered, breathy voice, a small smile on her face, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.__

"Distracted?" Ginny laughed outright, nudging Luna rather enthusiastically. "I am sure that you were; in the Astronomy Tower with your mystery man!"__

Grinning, Luna tore off a piece of the roll and, after peeling off the mustard-covered ham, stuffed the buttered bread into her mouth. "Next time can you order chicken?"__

"So come on, share with us," Ginny leaned forward a little, making sure she had Luna's full attention. "You know all about me and Draco," she muttered the last under her breath, aware that Ron was close enough that if she spoke at her normal volume he might well hear her and flip out in his usual way.__

Waving a piece of the roll at her friend, Luna shook her head, "Well that's because you keep on wanting to talk about how good in bed - or rather against the wall - he is!"__

Feeling rather out of his depth in this girlie conversation, Colin busied himself drinking down half of the large mug of warmed butterbeer in front of him, simply enjoying the companionship that his two best friends afforded him.__

"That doesn't mean that I don't want to hear all about your exciting love life. At least tell us who he is. We really want to know," she turned to look at Colin, urging him to join in the conversation, "don't we, Colin?" Colin jerked in his seat, a little shocked that he was being properly brought into the conversation, so used to just sitting there while Luna and Ginny talked about boys and everything relating to their girly lives. She had been trying to get Luna to confide in her for weeks, but the girl was remaining disturbingly closed-mouthed about her relationship.__

"Huh?" He was trying not to be brought into the conversation, having a severe lack of interest in talking about the love lives of his two best friends.__

"We really want to know all about her secret man, don't we?" she kicked him under the table, wondering why she had even bothered to bring him along; he was the worst person to help her get the gossip.__

"Oh," he nodded, wincing at the sharp pain in his shin following Ginny's kick, "yep, she's right. So who is this mystery bloke?" Secretly he couldn't care less, but it was obvious from the glare that Ginny was casting in his direction that she really wanted to know.__

"Does it matter?" Luna didn't want to share her secret just yet. She had promised him that she wasn't going to say anything, not even to her best friends. "I mean it's not as though it makes a difference to our gossip-fests is it?" she tried to look nonchalant as she tore off another piece of the roll and started to pick at it until it was nothing more than a mess of crumbs in front of her.__

"But I want to know," Ginny whined, wondering why Luna was keeping it so much of a secret. It was hardly as though she was dating her sworn enemy, or anything, so why was she so reluctant to share the information with her friends?__

"So you can just keep on wanting, Ginny. It's not as though you're sharing everything with all your friends, is it?" Luna raised an eyebrow at her friend and smirked in a manner that was all too reminiscent of the one person that she didn't really want to remind her friends, and most especially her brother, of.__

Realising that she was fighting a lost cause where finding out the identity of Luna's mystery man was concerned, Ginny leaned in closer to her companions, a mischievous grin on her face, "So what do you think about Pansy Parkinson?"__

The whole school was on fire with the news that Pansy Parkinson was pregnant with Lucius Malfoy's baby. The moment she'd realised that Draco's heart belonged to someone that wasn't her she had gone after the older Malfoy with a determination she had never shown for her schoolwork. So now she was nearly 18; nearly graduated from school, and six months from becoming the mother to Draco's younger half brother or sister, though no closer to being a Malfoy than she had been before.__

"What does Draco say about it all?" Luna, if she was being honest, felt rather sorry for Pansy. She knew that Lucius Malfoy was a complete bastard. Ginny had confided in her only a few months ago about the Chamber of Secrets and how Draco's father had been responsible for the diary being in her hands. Ignoring everything else that had happened since, that was enough to make Luna hate the older man; having since seen the bruising that covered Draco's back after a particularly vicious beating had really pushed her dislike for the man over the edge. __

"To be honest he hasn't said much about it at all," and what he had said wasn't suitable to share with anyone while they were eating. __

"That man is a total pig," Luna muttered under her breath, wondering what Pansy Parkinson had hoped to gain by getting pregnant to such a man as Lucius Malfoy, surely she wasn't under the misapprehension that he would really leave his wife for her?__

"I couldn't agree more. To be honest I think that she has made a big mistake, she's just an incubator for his spare!" Ginny didn't like Pansy Parkinson any more than anyone else in Gryffindor, but she felt some sympathy for the older Slytherin sure that she had put herself in ridiculous danger out of nothing more than petty vengeance against someone who couldn't really care less. It was well known that Narcissa Malfoy had, over the last few years, managed to get rid of several of her husband's more ambitious mistresses. If Pansy stepped one foot wrong, believing herself to be a suitable replacement for the Malfoy doyenne, there was no doubt that she would be found lying at the bottom of a staircase in some abandoned hallway.__

"So what did Draco say about you going to the Yule Ball with Neville?" Luna made sure that she whispered his name, as she was very aware that Ron and the other members of the Golden Trio were sitting far too closely for his name to be mentioned safely.__

"He knows that I have to go with someone and he would definitely prefer that I go with Neville rather than someone like Dean – who wants nothing more than to get in my knickers." She grinned, ripped off a piece of the roll and shoved it into her mouth, chewing quickly. "So who are you going with?"__

Sighing, Luna took a sip of Colin's warm butterbeer, having given up on the idea of getting a tankard of her own; the pub was getting far too busy, filled with Christmas shoppers eager to get out of the cold, taking a break from the busy cobbled paths. "I hadn't really thought about it," she shrugged. In all the excitement of having her first proper boyfriend she had totally forgotten about the Yule Ball, and all the preparations - including finding a suitable date - that went with it.__

"You could always go with Colin. Couldn't she, Colin?" Ginny looked over at Colin and smiled at him encouragingly.__

"Huh?" Colin hadn't been paying attention to any of the conversation at all, absorbed in watching the rather buxom Madame Rosmerta working behind the bar, charming some of the older male patrons into buying her a drink or two.__

"Oooh, Colin's got a crush," Ginny sing-songed when she noticed what the cause of Colin's distraction.__

Giggling, Luna followed Colin's line of sight, "So, you don't like the flat-chested type then?" She pulled her own top away from her small breasts and looked up at him, a fake expression of disappointment on her face. "I guess I wouldn't be the sort of girl you'd want to take to the Yule Ball then." Fluttering her long pale lashes at him in what she knew was a very poor attempt at flirtation, Luna just waited for him to stop staring at Madame Rosmerta through eyes that may as well be out on stalks.__

"Huh? Oh right, yes, whatever!" He wasn't even listening to what they were saying to him, just at that moment Rosmerta was bending over the bar, the corset of her dress gaping at the top and affording him - and every other hot-blooded male in the bar - a very nice view of her endowments.__

"Thanks Colin, you're a lifesaver." Luna patted Colin on the shoulder, a small smile on her face directed over at someone sitting on the other side of the bar, hidden almost completely from view.__

_Night of the Yule Ball_

"I've missed you today," the words were whispered against his neck as she frantically loosened the collar of his shirt and nuzzled the sensitive curve where neck met shoulder. "I want you so badly…" __

"Turn around," he murmured against her forehead, smiling when she turned in his arms without question. A quiet gasp left her lips as he undid the lacing at the back of her elegant Medieval-style jade-coloured ball gown and slowly pulled apart the edges, pressing soft butterfly kisses to every inch of skin that he revealed to the cool night air. "You look so beautiful this evening. Colin had better not lay a single finger on you" His words were quietly spoken, as though he was scared to break the spell that was currently encompassing them in their private haven. "Do you love me?"__

Silent, as though pretending to think of an answer to his question, Luna closed her eyes to enjoy the sensation of his lips against her bare back.__

"I'm not going to kiss you again until you answer," his voice was husky with arousal and he wanted nothing more than to strip her out of her beautiful gown and lay her down on the cool soft grass.__

"Don't be a tease," she groaned, her eyes opening when he actually started to re-lace her gown. "Blaise, please!"__

"Do you love me?" He nibbled along the line of her jaw, inhaling the sweet scent of her citrus perfume.

__Leaning back against him, Luna closed her eyes, sighed almost dramatically, the sigh becoming a moan as Blaise smoothed his fingers beneath the line of her cleavage, briefly, teasingly caressing her already pert nipples. "You know I do!" She turned her head and caught his lips with hers in a passionate kiss that had them both groaning, and within minutes gasping for breath.__

Quicker than he stripped off his own formal shirt and tie, he had managed to strip Luna out of her gown and was following her to the ground. "As much as I love that gown on you, I far prefer you like this."__

"Naked?" She laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her for another kiss.__

"Of course, I wouldn't be able to do this if you were still dressed." Nudging her legs apart with his own, he moved down her body, pressing kisses against the trembling muscles of her stomach before burying his face between her thighs and pressing his tongue against her throbbing clit.__

Arching off the soft mattress he had conjured for them with a moan, her fingers spearing through his hair, her nails digging into his scalp, not quite drawing blood, pulling him closer. "Oh Nimue, Blaise!" she gasped as his tongue continued to caress her, driving her closer to the point of mindless oblivion.__

Blaise felt as though he was going to bust through his thin silk boxer shorts - a prerequisite for every Slytherin boy over the age of 13 - if he didn't actually get further than this. For months they had been toying with foreplay, he had seen her naked enough times that his wet dreams were so detailed he could paint a perfect portrait of her at the moment of her climax. Tonight he wanted more than to touch and taste. Tonight he wanted to slip between her thighs, slide his cock inside her and feel her clamp so tightly around him that he went cross-eyed.__

Luna was seeing stars behind her eyelids. The sound of her blood pounding through her veins echoed in her head, as she moved closer and closer to the precipice that she sought. Her toes curled, digging into the mattress.__

_Five Years Later_

"I can't believe they're finally getting married," Luna studied her husband's reflection in the mirror as she piled her long blonde curls up haphazardly on top of her head, fixing it there with a weak spell and her wand. __

"I can't believe that Ginny was the one that had to propose." Blaise smiled at his wife, admiring the messy hairstyle that went so well with the red and gold empire-line robes Ginny had specifically designed for her bridesmaids.__

"Well, she always was forthright and honest when it came to what she wanted, and left to Draco they would have been planning for their firstborn to go to Hogwarts before he did anything about it." Luna tipped her head to the side, her eyes closing in pleasure when Blaise rained kisses along her jaw-line, his hands moving down to the firm roundness of her very pregnant belly. His eyes lit up when he felt a strong kick against his palm. "He's been kicking up a storm like that since this morning."__

"Do you think we'll make it to the ceremony?" He couldn't help but sound a little hopeful at the thought of missing it. It couldn't be denied that Draco Malfoy was his best friend but sometimes all his pissing and moaning about marrying into the Weasley family just to get his Ginevra was enough to drive even the most patient person insane - and patient was something that Blaise had never claimed to be.__

"Don't even think about it, Blaise Zabini," Luna playfully hit her husband on the wrist as he attempted to undo the buttons that tastefully decorated the front of her robe. "We're going to this wedding, Draco would never forgive you if we didn't make it and you know it!" __

Faking a groan of distress, he gave Luna's belly a last comforting pat, and then straightened his Slytherin-alumnus tie, part of the robe set that Draco had sent over the previous morning stating that he wasn't having his Gryffindor bride and her attendants show more house-pride than him.__

_Four hours later_

Luna almost made it through the whole wedding. In fact she was standing with the other attendants - Hermione, Parvati and Tonks - when her waters broke. With an expression of shock, her grey eyes wide, her lips parted on a silent gasp, Luna grabbed Hermione tightly and pulled the older girl close, "Hermione, my waters just broke. I'm going to have a baby!" she managed to whisper, her voice tinged with pain and more than a little bit of panic. It was as though the last nine months hadn't happened; labour made everything that much more real.__

After a few moments of panic amongst the attendants, Hermione finally managed to calm Luna's nerves enough to get the nervous mother-to-be to prise fear-frozen fingers from her arm and rush off to find the prospective father. __

Instead of standing up for their best friends, Luna and Blaise found themselves spending the duration of the Malfoy-Weasley nuptials in the maternity wing at St Mungo's waiting for the arrival of their child. Luna hee-hee'd until she became light-headed, Blaise held onto her hands so tightly that he wondered if they wouldn't merge into one being.__

As the last of their friends, all anxious for news of the first child to be born into their group and still dressed in wedding finery, apparated into the waiting room, Luna gave one last push and a small, wrinkled, red, screaming baby took his first breath.


End file.
